Green Gold
A new book traces the history of the avocado, from a humble dooryard tree in Mexico to a global superfood phenomenon
Harmonia Rosales
Known for re-creating Renaissance paintings with Black characters, the artist is now making her authorial debut to preserve African myths for future generations
Too Big to Fail’s Prequel, of Sorts
Andrew Ross Sorkin pieced together forgotten diaries and letters to reveal the Shakespearean characters behind the 1929 financial crash—and how they set the stage for Jamie Dimon and Elon Musk
Mad About the Girl
A new coffee-table book collects the photographer Sam Shaw’s never-before-seen pictures of his longtime friend and muse, Marilyn Monroe
Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and John Candy
A new biography pulls back the curtain on the Canadian comedian who died at just 43—and the role he turned down in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss the adventures of the Yiddish Sherlock Holmes, a memoir from the restaurateur behind Nobu, and a crime novel set in a gritty Rust Belt town
All Eyes on Yves
Richard Avedon, Paolo Roversi, Irving Penn … A new coffee-table book traces Yves Saint Laurent’s life and work through the lenses of the 20th century’s greatest photographers
If Gertrude Stein’s Art Could Talk
A new biography pulls back the curtain on the famed Paris patron of everyone from Picasso to Matisse, Hemingway to Fitzgerald
Announcing the Winners of the Tom Wolfe Literary Prizes
The recipients of the inaugural awards are Vincenzo Latronico, for fiction, and Meghan Daum, for reportage
Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeeze Me
Ruthie Rogers, of London’s storied River Cafe, has teamed up with Pop artist Ed Ruscha for a book of simple recipes devoted entirely to the yellow citrus
Cutting Through the Noise
From Homer’s singing Sirens to Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver, sound as a deadly weapon has long captivated our imagination. But have we overlooked its true dangers?
Gore Vidal at 100
“A narcissist is someone better looking than you are”
Don’t Call Richard Osman Cozy
The author discusses the Helen Mirren–led adaptation of his best-selling book The Thursday Murder Club, his podcast, The Rest Is Entertainment, and why he considers “cozy crime” a reductive label
Anatomy of an It Girl
How a British woman named Jane became the French bag named Birkin
Editor’s Picks
This week, don’t miss Geoff Dyer’s memoir of growing up in postwar England, a Pulitzer-winning nature writer’s account of summers in Newfoundland, and a story of a Taoist priest visiting the Mayans
Matisse vs. the Nazis
Despite a teaching post in San Francisco and a visa to Rio de Janeiro, the artist chose to stay in France and pursue his “degenerate” art during W.W. II
Agitrons,Waftaroms, and Neoflects, Oh My!
Beetle Bailey creator Mort Walker’s Lexicon of Comicana—a lovingly ironic send-up of comic-strip conventions—remains the gold standard, 50 years on
